Case Management

CMW tip: Consider multiple physician advisors

Case Management Weekly, January 6, 2010

In most hospitals, the physician advisor should be available every day, at least on an on-call basis, with time to prepare for discussions with physicians and to calmly interact with them in a timely way.

A good alternative to one physician advisor is for the hospital to appoint a part-time physician advisor within each major area, such as obstetrics, pediatrics, surgery, medicine, behavioral health, and ED. However they should all have the same job description and should all be on the UR committee.

A poor alternative is have an “advisor of the day” model, because the advisor on Tuesday will be tempted to leave the difficult situations for Wednesday’s advisor, who has enough work for that day. This last model also deprives the hospital, its physicians, patients, and the case managers of a point person who will provide fairness and consistency to the inevitable problems of balancing quality with cost and satisfaction.

Do you have a question about a case management topic? E-mail it to editor Ben Amirault at bamirault@hcpro.com. Your question could be answered in a future issue of Case Management Weekly.

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